Station serves as alert in times of emergency

Borough’s AM station broadcasts weather,
emergency information
By Sherry conohan
Staff Writer

CHRIS KELLY Retiring Monmouth Beach Police Chief Patrick McConville will remain an active part of the borough’s response to emergencies as its emergency management coordinator. His duties include operating the borough’s radio station.

MONMOUTH BEACH — Tucked away in a closet of the old borough garage behind the police station sits the Monmouth Beach radio station — WPMG, or 1640 AM on the radio dial.

Its appearance may be unremarkable but the service it provides is not.

In times of emergency, it broadcasts helpful and informative messages. The rest of the time it broadcasts the report of the National Weather Service.

Patrick J. McConville, the borough emergency management coordinator, said residents have learned of the radio station’s existence through the town newsletter and distribution of refrigerator magnets with the station number on them, but many others beyond the municipal borders have stumbled across it while spinning their radio dials and have come to rely on the weather forecasts it provides.

McConville said the station, which was acquired and installed in 1995-1996, has been used to broadcast such information as warnings of anticipated flooding, the times of high tides, expected wind changes and school closings.

"We can tell people to move their cars — the tide’s coming up," he noted.

As evidence of how far-reaching it can be, he cited a phone call he got recently from a pregnant woman in Rumson who had gone to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to find out where to track him down to report that the station had gone off the air. He said the woman told him she listened to the weather report every morning to determine whether or not to take the ferry for her commute to New York as she didn’t want to travel by boat if the water was going to be rough. When he went to check on the station, he said, he found it indeed was off the air.

McConville, who officially retires as borough police chief at the beginning of 2003, said he wishes "big time" that the borough had the radio station when the devastating nor’easter of Dec. 11, 1992, struck.

"It relieves a lot of the flood of phone calls that come into the police department," he said. "Residents can listen to the radio station."

If utility services fail, as in the Dec. 11 storm when the power was out for days, he said, by way of example, the station, which has its own generator, can broadcast the estimated time when they will be restored.

"I don’t think we’ve really been tested," he said.

McConville said the station was purchased from Information Systems Specialists of Zeeland, Minn. He said it took a couple of months to get it installed and up and running. McConville said Randy Van Bloem, the assistant emergency management coordinator for the borough, did most of the work.

Most of the broadcasting equipment for the station is kept in a cabinet resembling a fuse box. In addition, the station has a 39-foot antenna outside — the maximum height allowed by the FCC.

McConville said there’s 30 feet of associated coil buried underground at the base of the antenna. He said the station is capable of broadcasting over a 10-mile radius but its FCC license allows it to go only a distance of 2 1/2 miles.

Nonetheless, people sometimes pick it up as far away as the Garden State Parkway or at Shore Regional High School in West Long Branch, he added.

"We keep it on low, but in times of storms we jack it up," he said.

McConville said the station can carry a message of 14 minutes. He said it can be one message or 14 one-minute messages which can be put in any order.

"We can broadcast live or we can broadcast tape," he said.

In addition to McConville, the on-air "personalities" who broadcast the messages are Van Bloem and police Sgt. Drew Winans.

The building which houses the station is located atop a small man-made hillock. In addition to housing the radio station it now is used as a gym with exercise equipment.

McConville said the initial cost was $13,000, which included the FCC application fees, the purchase of the equipment and the installation. The borough only has to pay the licensing fee every three years now, "which may be only $5 or $3," he said.

"I’ve had [people from] the city of Bayonne come to look it over," McConville said. "Rumson is interested. Little Silver is interested. Oceanport is interested. Union Beach has one — had it before we did."

McConville said no advertising is allowed on the station, although they do put out notices of borough activities, such as the firemen’s Christmas tree sale.

"It’s just a public service information system," he explained.

"Basically, it’s a simple operation," he concluded. "It’s not pretty, but it’s effective."